Types of Headaches and How to Treat Them

Oftentimes when people experience tension headaches they feel pain and dullness all over their heads. And, oftentimes they feel tenderness and sensitivity all around their necks, forehead, scalp and their shoulders and muscles. Stress is the mainstream reason for tension headaches, and each and every one of us could get a tension headache no matter how old they are. To treat regular tension headaches you can take some kind of pain killer, and it will eliminate all of the symptoms. Here are some of the over the counter medicine you can get to relieve tension headaches:

Aspirin

Ibuprofen

Naproxen

Cafeeine

If you don’t seem to experience any changes even after you took the painkillers you can pay a visit to your doctor. He will recommend you a prescription drugs for you to consume. Some of the well-known ones are indomethacin, ketorolac, and meloxicam. If you experience a chronic tension headache then we’d recommend a different approach in order to find out what the actual headache trigger is.

Migraines

You know you’re experiencing migraine once you feel an intense throbbing pain inside your head. It can last as little as a couple of hours, or if you’re unlucky it could even stick for a couple of days. This headache will stop you from finishing your everyday tasks and it will limit you the things you can do. It is pretty distracting to be honest.

The trigger of some migraines can be some kind of visual disturbances. One in five people can experience this kinds of symptoms before a migraine headache starts:

Flashing lights

Shimmering lights

Zigzag lines

Stars

Blind spots

Often times migraines can be a genetic problem and they can be detected in many generations if they run in your family. A study has shown that on every men are three times less likely to develop a migraine than women are… PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder) can also be a trigger for some people to start experiencing migraines.

More common migraine triggers that are scientifically proven are some of these environmental factors:

Disruption in sleep

Dehydration

Skipped Meals

Some types of foods

Hormone Fluctuations

Exposure to Chemicals

Over the counter pain killers are oftentimes the solution to migraine, but if you tend to take lots of painkillers, than they might not help you. If you pay a visit to your doctor, he might prescribe you Triptans. These drugs are a solution that helps with inflammation and it changes the blood flow in your brain. You can consume them as a nasal spray, pills, or injections.

Here are some of the more popular options for treating migraine:

Sumatriptan (Imitrex)

Rizatriptan (Maxalt)

Rizatriptan (Axert)

If you’re dealing with migraines that last three in a month, migraines which are continuous for four or more days a month, or if you are experiencing migraines that are lasting for more than six days a month then we would advise you to consult your doctor for which daily headache medication you should take in order to help you prevent further headaches.

Researches have proven that people don’t really take preventative medication seriously, and it is proven to be very underused. 3% – 13% of the people that are dealing with migraine headaches are consuming preventative medications and that is not a good percentage when you consider the fact that over 37% of people really need these medications. You can increase the quality of your life by much if you tend to take preventative medication, and you will be more productive once the migraines are gone!

Here are some of the more helpful preventative medications:

Propranolol (Inderal)

Metoprolol (Toprol)

Topiramate (Topamax)

Amitriptyline

Allergy or sinus headaches

Sometimes, allergic reactions can be the trigger for a headache. You can mainly feel the reaction of these headaches in the area of your sinuses or in the front of your forehead.

There are lots of cases when a migraine headache might be diagnosed as a sinus headache… In fact, more than 90% of the so called sinus headaches are really a migraine. The allergy headaches are more common in the people who are dealing with some kind of chronic seasonal allergy.

You can use some kind of a nasal spray in order to help you out with thinning out the mucus that has collected in your sinuses. Some other medication you can use are OTC decongestants in the likes of Phenylephrine (Sudafed PE), or antihistamines like cetirizine (Zytec D allergy + Congestion). These will help you out with your sinus headaches.

Oftentimes a sinus headache might be a sign of a sinus infection. The best thing you can do is to visit a doctor when you feel something that is similar to the pain we described. Your doctor is going to prescribe some knid of antibiotics to help you with the infection and the symptoms of the headache.

Hormone headaches

Hormonal fluctuations are a common trigger of hormone headaches in women. Estrogen levels might be affected by pregnancy, birth control pills or menstruation which some times might result in a bad headache. The headaches that can be connected with the menstrual cycle are also known as menstrual headaches. You might feel these headaches before, after or while in your menstrual cycle.

You can use over the counter pain killers such as Naproxen, or pay your doctor a visit to prescribe you some kind of medications that will help you alleviate the headache.

Caffeine headaches

There are lots of cases when caffeine might actually result in a headache. In fact, the caffeine increases the blood flow in your brain and that is why it might result in an headache. Lots of people suffering from frequent migraines are at risk of triggering a headache by consuming caffeine.

When you’re accustomed to presenting your brain with a specific measure of caffeine, a stimulant, every day, you may get a migraine on the off chance that you don’t get your caffeine settle. This might be on the grounds that caffeine changes your mind science, and withdrawal from it can trigger a cerebral pain.

Not every person who cuts back on caffeine will encounter a withdrawal headache. Keeping your caffeine consumption at a consistent, sensible amount — or stopping it completely — can keep these headaches from occurring.